Trivia (118)

The spell cast to use the Orb Of Osuvox is from the movie Excalibur. In modern Irish it's, "Anáil nathrach, ortha bháis is beatha, do chéal déanaimh." Which means,"Serpent's breath, charm of death and life, thy omen of making."

The Zemeckis cube is named after director Robert Zemeckis. When the cube is activated, the music playing is from the Back to the Future (1985) trilogy, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Alan Silvestri composed the score for both the BTTF trilogy and this film.

During the race sequence the marquee of a theater can be seen. It reads "Schwarzenegger Jack Slater III". This is a nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger's film Last Action Hero (1993), also written by Zak Penn. According to Penn the nod was unintentional and was included by ILM staff as suggestion by co-writer Ernest Cline. Penn himself didn't know about it before the release of the first trailer.

Steven Spielberg is referenced (along with some of his movies) in Ernest Cline's source novel. Spielberg had stated that he would remove these references, although some like the Delorean and a Tyrannosaurus Rex do appear.

The music score was originally going to be composed by longtime Steven Spielberg collaborator John Williams. However, due to scheduling conflicts working on another Spielberg film, The Post (2017), he left and Alan Silvestri took over. This was only the third film where Spielberg did not collaborate with Williams.

At one point in the movie, the gang goes into a simulation of the hotel from The Shining. In real life, Steven Spielberg was close friends with The Shining's director Stanley Kubrick. Spielberg even once called the scene where Wendy finds Jack's novel as "a great example of counter intuitive direction".

The film includes characters from pop culture staples of the 1980s and 1990s, including The Iron Giant (1999), TRON (1982), Akira (1988), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Back to the Future (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Tomb Raider (1996), and Duke Nukem (1991).

In the scene where they are discussing Art3mis's possible real life persona, there is a picture of Wil Wheaton on the mirror. In the book, Wil is vice-president of the Oasis user council. He also reads the audio book for this and Ernest Cline's second novel, Armada.

In the scene where Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) meets I-R0k (T.J. Miller) about the orb, there lies a crashed ship from the original George Pal version of War of the Worlds (1953). It's also making the original sounds. Spielberg remade War of the Worlds in 2005.

Halliday's Oasis alter-ego name is "Anorak." Although in American English the word "anorak" refers exclusively to a type of hooded jacket or parka, in the UK the word is also a slightly derogatory slang term for a person Americans would call a "nerd" or a "geek": someone with an obsessive and comprehensive interest in a particular aspect of pop culture, a hobby, or a specialty or niche subject. This level of obsessive fandom is the entire point of the Halliday character and his creation of the Oasis.

Alan Silvestri worked closely with director Steven Spielberg to achieve the right direction for the original musical score that would not only be original and distinctive that would not allude to any of the film's 1980s and 1990s pop culture references, but also to evoke and enhance the film's story and tone of optimism, innocence, beauty, and a sense of wonder and old-fashioned adventure that many of the Hollywood films of the 1980s and the 1990s utilized to great effect. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Spielberg said of Silvestri's musical score for the film, "While all sorts of culturally iconic references populate Ready Player One (2018), the score that Alan Silvestri composed is completely and intoxicatingly original. It's bound together by multiple themes that identify plot and character and is infused by such percussive adrenaline and soaring strings that Alan has made Ready Player One appear to fly."

When Wade first goes into the container to put on the headset to enter the Oasis, there is a campaign poster on the wall. It is to vote for Goldie Wilson who was running for mayor in the film Back To The Future.

On August 11, 2015, a rumor began circulating that Steven Spielberg was "courting" Gene Wilder to play OASIS creator James Halliday, which would've made this the first film Wilder has done since 1999. However, Wilder guest starred as Elmer on Yo Gabba Gabba! (2007).

Warner Bros. and producer Donald De Line acquired the adaptation rights to Ernest Cline's novel while it was in galley form in a very aggressive bidding contest, beating rival studios Paramount and 20th Century Fox on 21 June 2010, just the following day after the publishing company Random House won the publication rights. Cline stipulated two conditions in the agreement with the studio: he and Eric Eason gets the first attempt to write the script on his book; Cline wants Steven Spielberg to direct it.

In one scene near the end of the film, a random citizen can be seen wearing a futuristic version of the HTC VIVE VR headset. HTC participated in promotion of the film with VR arcade and home VR releases of Ready Player One VR mini-experiences with the most recently available VIVE headset.

A passage from the source novel describes Wade's obsession and "research" of Anorak's Almanac, Halliday's journal chock full of references to 1980s books, movies, TV shows, music, and video games. One of the filmographies that Wade studied from the Almanac was Steven Spielberg.

During the scene in the dance club where i-R0k tells the girls to leave the booth, the song "Blue Monday" by New Order is playing. In the movie The Wedding Singer (1998) (which is another movie deep in 80s trivia), the same song is playing when Adam Sandler and his co-stars are in a very similar dance club in a nearly identical booth.

Some controversy emerged after Tye Sheridan was cast. Casting website Cast It Talent had advertised that the film was seeking "unknown talent" for the lead role. Several people sent in audition videos in hopes of being cast. When news of Sheridan's casting came out less than a day after the casting campaign ended, the reaction of people who auditioned ranged from understanding that they likely wouldn't be picked to outrage because they felt they had been lied to.

In the novel, Wade finds the Copper Key by adventuring through a recreation of the classic Dungeons & Dragons module "Tomb of Horrors". While that does not take place in the movie, it still references Tomb of Horrors by featuring the iconic "Face of the Great Green Devil" on the back of Aech's van.

The film also marks the first Warner Bros. Pictures production since Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) to be co-produced by DreamWorks Pictures. In the case of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), it was co-produced with Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.

The start up screen for the Oasis is very similar to the Start Screen to the Nerve Gear From the Anime Sword Art Online, with Colors flying toward the viewer and the Logo appearing. Sword Art Online has a very similar concept to Ready Player One, but it is unclear if this was a reference or just a coincidence.

In the opening scene, as Wade is leaving his place and "Jump" by Van Halen is playing, David Lee Roth sings "gotta roll with the punches" at the exact moment that the camera passes a woman boxing with OASIS gear on.

When the Hi-Five hack into Sorrento's immersion pod as OASIS reproductions of their real-life selves, their eyes give off an amber glow. This is a reference to a lighting effect used to differentiate between humans and replicants in Blade Runner (1982).

Although Steven Spielberg has stated that many references to himself that are seen in the book have been removed from the film, he has confirmed that Wade will still have his custom DeLorean, which is a prominent element in the Spielberg-produced Back to the Future (1985).

When the IOI Sixers attack Parzival and Art3mis at the Distracted Globe dance club, Art3mis fights back with an M4A1 pulse rifle from Aliens (1986). She is also seen using a Lawgiver from Judge Dredd (1995)

In the film, the jade key is obtained by living through certain scenes from the movie version of The Shining. In the novel, the copper key is used to open the first gate, which requires the player to live through and recite the entire movie WarGames.

One of the largest differences between the book and film revolves around the copper key. In the film everyone knows where the key is, and a seemingly impossible auto race frequently occurs to obtain it. In the novel many years go by without anyone knowing where the first key is located, until Perzival discovers an area outside of his school that requires him to navigate a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, before beating a demon in a head to head arcade game of Joust. It's shortly after obtaining the key that he first meets Art3mis, who had been trying to beat the demon at Joust for nearly a month.

The scene where the Iron Giant disappears into the lava and gives a thumbs up is similar to a scene in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, where the T-800 makes the same gesture as it is lowered into a vat of molten steel.

During the scene where Parzival & Aech are chatting about who Art3mis may be in the 'Real World' a Mayor Goldie Wilson poster can be seen in the background. This is yet another nod to the 1985 classic Back to the Future.

A vast majority of the movie is completely different from the book. This includes the riddles and location of the keys, the death of Daito, Art3mis meeting Wade in the second act rather than the end, and the characters running from IOI as Parzival finishes the Third Test.

The Atari system at Anorak's Castle is connected to a TV set to channel 3. Early video game consoles connected to the TV by connecting to the two antenna terminal screws using a small switch box. This box had an analog sliding switch which could be moved between tv and game mode. It required the TV to be tuned to channel 3 to receive the game system signal.

In the novel the character of Ultraman from Ultraman: A Special Effects Fantasy Series (1966) played a crucial part in the climax of the story. However the rights of the character were in the middle of a legal dispute so the film replaced it with the Iron Giant from The Iron Giant (1999).

The music throughout the Overlook Hotel scenes is the score used in the film, The Shining (1980). Some shots throughout the sequence are taken from the original film as well, most noticeably some shots during the room 237 scene.

Wade's avatar, Parzival is an obvious reference to Percival, the knight in the Holy Grail legend. Throughout the film, several moments occurred alluding to the legend: Percival means "old fool" in old English. In the first half of the film, Wade is naive to the reality until a tragedy happens. Percival's jacket has a sword image behind it. He's the knight that discovers the Holy Grail at the end of the quest, just as Wade finds the Easter egg at the end. In the legend, Percival brings redemption to the Fisher King Amfortas. A conversation and a promise between Wade and James Halliday towards the end about correcting Halliday's mistake subsequently redeems both of them. Percival receives a cosmic awakening after kissing Kundry, as in parallel with Wade kissing Samantha the first time. Percival fights the Red Knight. In parallel, Parzival fights i-R0k for the Easter egg at Planet Doom.

The OASIS scenes are filmed digitally (except when entering the world of The Shining), while the real world scenes are shot on film, heavily emphasizing the celluloid noise. That provides a subtle clue something is amiss when Sorrento's station is hacked, due to the lack of grain in the digital cinematography.

Halliday filming his death announcement while lying inside a Star Trek photon torpedo casing may be a subtle hint to the ending, where his persona is revealed to still remain within OASIS. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), the character of Spock was buried inside a photon torpedo on the Genesis planet (also a man-made experiment). In the sequel Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Spock's body is revealed to have been resurrected by the planet. Both movies also have Halliday and Spock appearing as children.

Win Morisaki playing as Daito has a character skin in the Oasis from Gundam. Win played Dango Inamoto in the Kamen Rider W series. There is a PSP game that has both characters in it called Heroes VS: Gundam x Ultraman x Kamen Rider.

One of the lapel pins on Halliday's suit during his death video is a miniature of Simon, a popular electronic game from Milton-Bradley in which you needed to match lights by pressing four buttons in the same sequence they lit. Although a very popular game in the 1980s, the pin represents the game in its "modern", 21st century version (black disc shaped, with the buttons in each quadrant).